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Union Movement

The Union Movement was a British political organization founded by Sir Oswald Mosley on 7 February 1948 as the successor to his pre-war British Union of Fascists, aiming to advance post-war reconstruction through a corporatist economic system and a unified European polity.^[1]^[2] Its core policy, "Europe a Nation," envisioned a sovereign confederation of European states with centralized authority over foreign affairs, defense, and major infrastructure to counterbalance the superpowers of the United States and Soviet Union, while preserving national cultures within that framework and rejecting both Atlanticist alliances and the dissolution of borders.^[3]^[4] The movement retained elements of Mosley's earlier fascist ideology, including opposition to usury and international finance, advocacy for guild-based corporatism to harmonize labor and capital, and calls for halting immigration from non-European sources to safeguard demographic and cultural integrity.^[2] Despite publishing manifestos and contesting elections—such as Mosley's unsuccessful 1959 North Kensington by-election campaign—the Union Movement achieved negligible electoral success, peaking at under 3,000 members and facing sustained public protests, media vilification, and political isolation owing to its founder's wartime internment and perceived continuity with authoritarian precedents.^[1] By the early 1960s, it had largely dissipated, with Mosley relocating to France amid declining influence, though its supranational vision prefigured certain debates on continental integration.^[5]

Origins and Intellectual Foundations

Oswald Mosley's Postwar Reorientation

Following his release from internment in November 1943, Oswald Mosley remained under movement restrictions until the end of World War II in 1945, during which period he reflected on the global conflict's implications, including the emergence of the United States and Soviet Union as dominant superpowers and the weakening of the British Empire.^[6] These developments prompted a strategic pivot from his pre-war emphasis on insular British fascism toward a broader vision of continental integration, driven by the perceived necessity for Europe to consolidate as a counterweight to extraterritorial influences and existential threats like nuclear proliferation.^[7] Mosley's reorientation retained core elements of corporatist economics and opposition to liberal democracy but subordinated national sovereignty to a federated European structure, arguing that fragmented states could not sustain independence in the atomic age.^[8] In his 1947 publication The Alternative, Mosley articulated this shift explicitly, critiquing both Anglo-American capitalism and Soviet communism as threats to European cultural and racial integrity, and proposing "Europe a Nation" as a sovereign bloc extending from the Atlantic to the Urals, governed by authoritarian leadership and economic self-sufficiency to preserve Western civilization.^[9] The book, self-published amid postwar austerity symbolized by Britain's harsh winter of 1947, rejected isolationism and empire nostalgia in favor of pan-European nationalism, positing unity as essential for technological and military parity with the superpowers.^[10] This framework synthesized fascist discipline with anti-imperial realism, emphasizing causal links between disunity and subjugation, while maintaining skepticism toward parliamentary systems as inefficient for crisis response.^[11] Mosley's postwar writings, including The Alternative, laid the groundwork for transcending the discredited British Union of Fascists by framing European federation not as supranational bureaucracy but as a defensive alliance of nations retaining cultural distinctiveness under centralized policy on defense, trade, and demographics.^[12] He positioned this ideology against both Atlanticist alignment with the U.S. and Eastern Bloc expansion, attributing Europe's postwar plight to the Yalta Conference divisions of 1945, which he viewed as a betrayal of continental autonomy.^[13] Though rooted in empirical observations of power imbalances—Britain's military exhaustion and imperial withdrawals—the reorientation faced immediate hostility from established media and political elites, who associated Mosley indelibly with pre-war extremism, limiting its reception despite its adaptation to decolonization realities.^[7]

Development of "Europe a Nation" Concept

Following his release from internment in 1943 and amid Britain's postwar economic decline and the onset of the Cold War, Oswald Mosley began reorienting his political focus toward pan-European unity as a counter to Anglo-American and Soviet dominance. Influenced by Oswald Spengler's cyclical view of civilizations and the destructive potential demonstrated by atomic weapons in 1945, Mosley argued that fragmented European nation-states could no longer sustain independence or cultural vitality, necessitating a federated "third force" to preserve Western civilization.^[14]^[15] This conceptual shift crystallized in Mosley's 1947 publication The Alternative, which warned of threats from "mob and money" as modern barbarians eroding European values and proposed a united Europe to achieve autarky through corporatist planning, joint imperial resource exploitation in Africa, and centralized defense. The book framed "Europe a Nation" not as mere economic cooperation but as a sovereign continental entity with shared foreign policy, military command, and cultural preservation, rejecting both liberal democracy's individualism and communism's collectivism in favor of disciplined national socialism adapted to postwar realities.^[16]^[17]^[12] By 1948, with the launch of the Union Movement, Mosley integrated "Europe a Nation" as a core policy, emphasizing rapid unification via a European assembly to draft a constitution and allocate production tasks akin to wartime mobilization, aiming to supplant lost imperial markets with continental self-sufficiency. In a 1949 speech at Kensington Town Hall on October 18, he elaborated that historical European organic unity—disrupted since Charlemagne—must be restored through bold political action, contrasting it with timid incrementalism and advocating worker-controlled decentralization under elite guidance.^[18]^[12]^[14] The idea evolved through transnational networking, including the 1951 founding of the European Social Movement to coordinate neo-fascist groups and the short-lived Nation Europa journal, which disseminated propaganda targeting sympathetic circles in Germany and Italy for a racially homogeneous, anti-communist, and anti-usury federation. Despite internal factionalism and limited British uptake, Mosley's persistent advocacy—peaking with the 1962 Venice Conference attempt to form a National Party of Europe—solidified "Europe a Nation" as a blueprint for total integration, prioritizing causal geopolitical necessities over nostalgic nationalism.^[14]^[12]

Formation and Early Organization

Launch of the Party in 1948

Oswald Mosley, former leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF), which had been proscribed in 1940, launched the Union Movement on 7 February 1948 as a vehicle for his postwar political ideas.^[6] The initiative followed the 1947 publication of Mosley's book The Alternative, in which he critiqued the prevailing economic and geopolitical order and proposed a vision of European federalism to counterbalance the United States and Soviet Union.^[9] This work served as the intellectual foundation, emphasizing corporatist economics, anti-communism, and opposition to usury, while shifting from prewar imperialism to a "Europe a Nation" framework.^[19] The formal announcement occurred at a meeting in central London, where Mosley declared the Union Movement to be an amalgamation of 51 organizations, including 36 right-wing book clubs and other sympathetic groups, aimed at unifying disparate nationalist elements.^[6]^[20] Held at Wilfred Street School in Victoria, the event drew local opposition, with parents protesting the venue's use and scrawling graffiti such as "Mosley speaks here—insult to our children" on the walls, reflecting lingering public hostility toward Mosley due to his wartime internment and fascist associations. Despite this, the launch positioned the party as a non-violent, intellectual alternative to mainstream parties, focusing on policy debates rather than street activism, though it retained core BUF personnel and ideology adapted to the Cold War context.^[13] Initial organization emphasized decentralized "policy committees" for recruitment and propaganda, with Mosley as chairman, but the movement struggled from the outset amid public apathy and competition from established parties.^[21] Membership estimates at launch were modest, drawing primarily from former BUF sympathizers, as Mosley sought to distance the group from prewar militarism while advocating national renewal through European unity.^[7]

Initial Structure and Recruitment Efforts

The Union Movement emerged from a clandestine network of approximately 47 book clubs and four political organizations that Oswald Mosley cultivated in the years following his release from internment in 1943. These book clubs, established around 1946, operated as semi-covert discussion groups focused on literature, philosophy, and cultural topics, allowing Mosley to rebuild support among former British Union of Fascists (BUF) adherents and intellectual sympathizers while evading postwar public opprobrium and residual legal constraints on fascist activities.^[10] The clubs emphasized Mosley's evolving ideas on European unity and anti-communism, functioning as de facto recruitment hubs by fostering ideological commitment through informal meetings rather than overt political rallies.^[22] Formal organization coalesced in early 1948, with Mosley announcing the Union Movement's launch on February 7 as a centralized entity under his leadership, merging the disparate groups into a single structure without the paramilitary elements of the prewar BUF. The initial framework prioritized policy dissemination over mass mobilization, featuring a small directorate of loyalists drawn from BUF veterans and book club organizers, alongside regional branches for propaganda distribution. Membership was modest, drawing primarily from ex-servicemen via affiliations like the British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women, and targeted outreach to Irish expatriates through pamphlets such as Mosley's 1948 tract advocating Irish reunification under a broader European framework.^[23] ^[10] Recruitment strategies relied on printed materials, including the movement's newspaper Union, and public lectures in sympathetic venues, but encountered significant resistance from anti-fascist groups like the 43 Group, which disrupted meetings and intimidated potential joiners. Efforts to expand beyond core circles proved limited, hampered by Mosley's wartime associations and economic hardships that favored established parties; initial active membership hovered in the low hundreds, with broader sympathizers remaining passive due to social stigma.^[24] The structure emphasized ideological purity over numerical growth, reflecting Mosley's shift toward elite persuasion amid Britain's postwar consensus.^[10]

Core Ideology and Policy Positions

Economic Corporatism and Anti-Usury Stance

The Union Movement advocated economic corporatism as a means to transcend both laissez-faire capitalism and socialism, organizing society into functional "corporations" comprising representatives from employers, workers, and technical experts within each industrial sector. These bodies would collaborate under state oversight through a central National Council of Corporations, subordinating private interests to national production goals, eliminating strikes and lockouts via mandatory arbitration, and directing finance toward productive investment rather than speculation. This framework, detailed in Oswald Mosley's pre-war formulations and adapted postwar, emphasized rational planning to achieve full employment and autarky, with individual enterprise permitted only insofar as it aligned with collective welfare.^[25]^[26] In Mosley's 1947 book The Alternative, which laid the ideological groundwork for the Union Movement's formation the following year, corporatism was positioned as essential for rebuilding Europe against superpower dominance, integrating economic policy with the "Europe a Nation" vision through continent-wide syndicates for resource allocation and trade. Proponents argued this system would resolve interwar economic crises—such as Britain's 1931 slump, which Mosley attributed to orthodox finance—by prioritizing output over profit, with the state functioning as a coordinating "brain" rather than a bureaucratic dictator. Critics from liberal economics, however, contended it risked authoritarian control, though Mosley countered that democratic accountability via leadership would prevent such outcomes.^[12] Complementing corporatism, the Union Movement adopted a staunch anti-usury position, denouncing interest-bearing debt as a mechanism of exploitation that empowered private banks over productive economies, echoing historical prohibitions in religious traditions and philosophy. Mosley and associates portrayed usury as fueling cycles of inflation, depression, and national indebtedness—exemplified by the 1929 crash and postwar sterling crises—advocating instead state-issued credit based on real assets and output needs, free from private moneylenders' claims. This stance targeted "finance-capital" as a supranational force undermining sovereignty, proposing reforms like nationalized banking to redirect capital toward industrial expansion without parasitic interest burdens.^[27]

National and European Unity Against Superpowers

The Union Movement positioned European unity as essential for national sovereignty, arguing that fragmented European states were vulnerable to domination by the United States and Soviet Union following World War II. Oswald Mosley, the movement's founder, contended that the Yalta and Tehran conferences of 1943 and 1945 had subordinated Britain and Europe to American and Soviet interests, reducing them to secondary powers in a bipolar world order.^[2] This view framed "Europe a Nation" not as supranational bureaucracy but as a cohesive continental state with centralized authority over defense, foreign policy, and economy, while retaining subsidiary national and regional governments to safeguard cultural identities.^[12]^[2] Mosley first articulated this vision in a speech on October 16, 1948, in East London, calling for the election of a European assembly to forge unity against superpower threats, including Soviet eastward expansion and American economic leverage through mechanisms like the Marshall Plan.^[2] He proposed Europe as a "third force" independent of both U.S. capitalism, which he criticized for fostering dependency via dollar diplomacy, and Soviet communism, viewed as a barbaric expansionist ideology.^[12]^[2] In a follow-up address on October 18, 1949, at Kensington Town Hall, Mosley extended the concept to include African territories as an "Empire of Europe," aiming to create self-sufficient economic blocs to avert trade wars and nuclear risks posed by superpower rivalries.^[12] The ideology emphasized causal linkages between disunity and subjugation: without integration, Europe risked partition or vassalage, as evidenced by postwar divisions in Germany and Eastern Europe under Soviet control.^[2] By 1950, Mosley advocated negotiating troop withdrawals with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to de-escalate tensions, while rejecting alignment with NATO, which he saw as entangling Europe in U.S. strategic interests.^[2] This stance informed the Union Movement's collaboration in the European Social Movement and the 1962 National Party of Europe, though these efforts attracted limited support, peaking at around 15,000 members continent-wide.^[12] The movement's publications, such as The Alternative (1947), reinforced that national preservation required continental scale to match superpower military and industrial capacities, prioritizing empirical geopolitical realism over ideological conformity to either bloc.^[2]

Immigration Control and Racial Preservation Policies

The Union Movement advocated for the immediate cessation of immigration from non-European countries, particularly the Commonwealth, to prevent demographic shifts that it deemed detrimental to Britain's national character. Emerging amid the postwar arrival of workers from colonies—numbering over 100,000 by 1951—the party positioned itself as a pioneer in opposing such inflows, framing them as an economic and social burden rather than a Commonwealth obligation.^[28] Policies centered on repatriation incentives for existing immigrants and a total ban on further non-white entries, arguing that open borders eroded housing availability and fostered community tensions, as evidenced in early campaigns in London districts like Kensington.^[29] Central to these measures was a commitment to racial preservation, rooted in the belief that Europe's strength derived from its biological and cultural homogeneity. Mosley contended that mass immigration from racially distinct populations risked diluting the indigenous European stock, which he regarded as essential for maintaining societal cohesion and imperial legacy.^[30] This perspective aligned with the "Europe a Nation" doctrine, envisioning a federated continent as a singular racial entity capable of resisting superpower dominance only if insulated from external ethnic influxes; multiculturalism was rejected outright as incompatible with organic national development.^[29] In practice, the Union Movement linked immigration control to broader antisemitic and anti-usury themes, attributing migration policies to financial interests undermining native populations, though primary emphasis remained on preserving European ethnic integrity through voluntary returns and border enforcement.^[30] By the 1950s, amid rising street-level racial frictions—such as the 1958 Notting Hill events—the party intensified propaganda urging repatriation schemes funded by government and industry, estimating costs at manageable levels relative to welfare expenditures on immigrants.^[28] These positions, while drawing marginal support in immigrant-heavy constituencies, underscored a causal view that unchecked inflows precipitated irreversible cultural fragmentation absent proactive preservation.^[29]

Activities and Public Engagement

Campaigns and Propaganda Initiatives

The Union Movement's propaganda initiatives primarily relied on printed materials and localized public actions, constrained by postwar legal restrictions on uniformed marches and widespread opposition from antifascist groups. Central to these efforts was the quarterly journal Union, first published in 1949, which propagated Mosley's doctrines of European federalism under "Europe a Nation," corporatist economics, and opposition to usury and mass immigration, framing Britain as culturally threatened by non-European influxes.^[7] The publication emphasized self-reliance through national dividends and critiqued both American and Soviet superpowers as imperial threats to sovereignty.^[7] Leaflets and pamphlets formed another key component, distributed in working-class districts of London and other cities during the 1950s and 1960s, often highlighting housing strains and employment competition attributed to postwar immigration from Commonwealth nations.^[31] These materials urged repatriation policies and preservation of Britain's "racial and national character," aligning with the party's manifesto The Policy of 1948.^[31] From 1966 onward, the group revived the newspaper Action—originally a British Union of Fascists title—as a weekly to broaden reach, though circulation remained limited amid press blackouts.^[32] Public campaigns included small-scale rallies and street distributions, such as Mosley's 1958 addresses in East London against "coloured immigration," which drew crowds but provoked violent clashes with Jewish war veterans organized in the 43 Group.^[33] To counter media silence, adherents conducted graffiti operations on hoardings nationwide, inscribing slogans like "Mosley for Unity" to assert visibility.^[10] These initiatives also incorporated antisemitic elements, portraying international finance as a Jewish-led conspiracy undermining national economies, though the party shifted emphasis postwar toward anti-immigration and pan-European appeals.^[34] Overall, such efforts yielded marginal impact, with membership peaking below 2,000 by the mid-1950s, hampered by public revulsion toward prewar fascism.^[34] The Union Movement positioned postwar social tensions in Britain—encompassing acute housing shortages, employment competition, and emerging interracial frictions—as direct outcomes of the British Nationality Act 1948, which granted citizenship rights to over 800 million Commonwealth subjects and spurred influxes of non-white immigrants, particularly from the Caribbean and South Asia. By 1951, net migration from the Commonwealth had reached approximately 70,000 annually, coinciding with a national housing deficit of over 750,000 units destroyed or damaged during the war, which Mosley and UM propagandists argued was worsened by immigrant demand in urban centers like London.^[35] UM literature, including leaflets and the party newspaper Action, repeatedly linked these pressures to government policy failures, asserting that unchecked immigration displaced native workers and strained public services amid ongoing rationing and economic reconstruction.^[13] In response, the Union Movement launched targeted propaganda and recruitment drives in working-class districts affected by these strains, such as the East End and Notting Hill, emphasizing corporatist solutions like national economic planning under "Europe a Nation" to alleviate scarcity while demanding an immediate halt to non-European immigration and funded repatriation programs.^[5] Mosley personally addressed crowds at open-air meetings, framing social discord as a preventable clash of incompatible cultures rather than inherent prejudice, and proposed incentives like financial aid for voluntary returnees to reduce population pressures without coercion.^[36] These efforts peaked in the mid-1950s amid reports of localized unrest, including youth gang violence and property disputes, where UM activists distributed materials blaming "alien influx" for eroding community cohesion and rising crime statistics in immigrant-heavy areas.^[37] The 1958 Notting Hill disturbances, involving clashes between white residents and Caribbean immigrants over several nights from August 29, exemplified the tensions UM sought to address and exploit; party members had maintained a presence in the area since 1954, organizing meetings to protest perceived favoritism toward newcomers in housing allocations and advocating Mosley's leadership as the means to "clear the streets" of disorder through repatriation and border enforcement.^[37] ^[13] While UM claimed its interventions highlighted genuine grievances rooted in resource competition—evidenced by contemporaneous surveys showing widespread native concerns over housing competition—opponents, including trade unions and anti-fascist groups, accused the party of inflaming divisions for electoral gain, a charge Mosley rebutted by pointing to pre-existing overcrowding data from local councils.^[38] These activities underscored UM's broader strategy of channeling social discontent into support for authoritarian nationalism, though membership remained limited, hovering below 2,000 active adherents by the late 1950s.^[39]

Electoral Efforts and Performance

Participation in Elections

The Union Movement engaged minimally in electoral politics, prioritizing ideological campaigns over widespread candidacy, and achieved consistently low results that underscored limited public appeal in the postwar era. The party's first notable parliamentary foray occurred in the 1959 general election, when founder Oswald Mosley contested the North Kensington constituency. This marked the Movement's initial national-level challenge since World War II, but Mosley was decisively defeated, receiving so few votes—under 12.5% of the total—that he forfeited his £150 deposit, a requirement for candidates failing to meet that threshold.^[40]^[41] Mosley attempted a return in the 1966 general election, standing for the Shoreditch and Finsbury constituency under the Union Movement banner. He secured 1,126 votes, equivalent to roughly 4.6% of the electorate's turnout there, again falling short of retaining his deposit and highlighting persistent marginalization.^[42] The party fielded no other candidates in that election, reflecting resource constraints and strategic focus on Mosley's personal profile rather than broader organization. At the local level, the Union Movement sporadically contested municipal and council elections in the 1950s, particularly in East London areas with prior fascist sympathies like Bethnal Green, but results were negligible, often yielding under 5% support amid opposition from major parties and public wariness of Mosley's prewar associations.^[43] By the 1970 Greater London Council election, the declining party put forward candidates across several constituencies, yet polled pitifully low shares—typically below 2%—failing to win any seats and signaling organizational erosion.^[44] These efforts, hampered by legal restrictions on fascist groups, small membership (peaking around 2,000 active supporters), and societal rejection of authoritarian ideologies, confirmed the Movement's electoral irrelevance, with no victories at any level from 1948 to its 1973 dissolution.^[13]

Analysis of Voting Results

The Union Movement's electoral endeavors yielded consistently marginal results, underscoring its inability to translate ideological advocacy or public agitation into voter support. Across local and national contests in the late 1940s and 1950s, the party's candidates secured no seats and polled vote shares typically below 1 percent, reflecting a post-war electorate's rejection of Mosley's leadership and platform amid lingering associations with pre-war fascism.^[45] This pattern held despite targeted campaigns in urban areas experiencing social strains, such as early immigration-related tensions, suggesting that factors like organizational weakness, with membership never exceeding a few thousand, and widespread opposition from established parties limited outreach.^[42] In the 1949 London County Council elections, the party's initial major test, Union Movement candidates garnered just 1,253 votes in total across multiple divisions, equating to negligible influence in a field dominated by Labour and Conservative majorities.^[45] Similarly, in the 1955 LCC poll, nine candidates polled 5,053 votes, or 0.2 percent overall, failing to win representation despite Mosley's emphasis on corporatist reforms and anti-usury policies tailored to working-class districts.^[46] These outcomes highlighted a disconnect between the movement's propaganda—circulated via leaflets and meetings—and voter priorities, where economic recovery under mainstream welfare policies overshadowed radical nationalist appeals. The 1959 general election provided a stark illustration of this shortfall, with Mosley himself contesting North Kensington, an area scarred by the 1958 Notting Hill clashes over West Indian immigration. He received fewer votes than required to retain his deposit—under 12.5 percent of the total—resulting in a decisive defeat amid a Conservative victory nationwide.^[41] This performance, despite localized racial frictions that aligned superficially with the party's restrictionist stance, indicated that voters associated Mosley personally with interwar extremism rather than viewing the Union Movement as a viable alternative; Conservative candidates, who began addressing immigration conservatively without fascist baggage, captured relevant discontent more effectively. Overall, the voting data reveal causal barriers including reputational damage from wartime internment and Public Order Act restrictions, constraining the party to fringe status and foreshadowing its eventual dissolution.^[37]

Controversies and External Challenges

Accusations of Extremism and Antisemitism

The Union Movement, founded by Oswald Mosley in 1948 as a successor to his pre-war British Union of Fascists, encountered persistent accusations of extremism and antisemitism from political opponents, Jewish advocacy groups, and media outlets, largely attributed to its leader's historical associations and ideological continuity with interwar fascism. Critics contended that the movement's emphasis on corporatist economics, opposition to multiculturalism, and advocacy for "Europe a Nation" masked authoritarian tendencies and racial hierarchies reminiscent of fascist doctrines. These charges were amplified in the context of post-war Britain's sensitivity to fascist revival, where Mosley's past internment under Defence Regulation 18B during World War II fueled perceptions of the Union Movement as an extremist entity undermining democratic norms.^[13] Antisemitism allegations centered on Mosley's rhetoric critiquing international finance, media influence, and Zionism, which detractors interpreted as veiled anti-Jewish tropes despite his explicit disavowals. In November 1947, amid riots targeting Jewish communities in London and other cities—triggered partly by tensions over Palestine and illegal immigration—Mosley announced plans for the Union Movement, which opponents accused of exploiting these events to promote anti-Jewish views under the guise of economic nationalism.^[47] By January 1960, Mosley publicly rejected antisemitism, asserting that the Union Movement opposed no religion or race per se and attributing global antisemitic waves to "insensate" Jewish behaviors in host nations; nonetheless, a 1963 report noted growing anti-Jewish hostility among movement adherents, suggesting limited internal restraint on such sentiments.^[48]^[49] Jewish self-defense organizations, including the 43 Group formed by Holocaust survivors and veterans, actively disrupted Union Movement gatherings in the late 1940s and 1950s, labeling them a fascist threat perpetuating pre-war antisemitic violence.^[50] These confrontations, such as heckling during Mosley's 1966 parliamentary campaign in Shoreditch and Finsbury, underscored accusations that the movement's "racial preservation" policies implicitly targeted Jewish integration and influence. Extremism claims extended to the group's paramilitary-style organization and calls for sweeping state intervention in economy and society, which authorities monitored under public order laws, though no formal proscriptions occurred until later far-right bans in the 1960s. Such labels, often issued by left-leaning media and academic sources with systemic biases against nationalism, contributed to the movement's marginalization, with membership never exceeding a few thousand and electoral support below 1% in by-elections like the 1950s Kensington North contest.^[13]

Clashes with Opponents and State Restrictions

The Union Movement's public meetings and marches frequently encountered violent opposition from anti-fascist groups, including communists and Jewish defense organizations, mirroring pre-war confrontations faced by Mosley's British Union of Fascists. These disruptions often involved physical assaults on speakers and attendees, with opponents seeking to prevent the expression of the Movement's views on European unity and immigration restriction. In March 1949, a Union Movement rally in London's Bethnal Green degenerated into rioting after communist-led counter-demonstrators clashed with police protecting the event, resulting in dozens of arrests and injuries on both sides.^[51] Such incidents prompted state interventions under the Public Order Act 1936, which empowered authorities to impose conditions or prohibitions on assemblies likely to lead to serious public disorder. Following the 1949 Bethnal Green violence, Home Secretary James Chuter Ede extended a ban on political parades in affected East London districts for three months, explicitly attributing the unrest to communist agitators rather than Union Movement participants. Local councils and police similarly restricted or relocated Union Movement events in areas like Birmingham and Manchester during the early 1950s, citing anticipated breaches of the peace amid organized opposition.^[51] Attempts to march through the East End of London, a traditional stronghold of opposition, were routinely prohibited by Home Office order, as in one case where Jewish community leaders' interventions led to the cancellation of a planned Union Movement parade under existing statutory powers. By the late 1950s and early 1960s, escalating counter-protests culminated in further clashes, such as the 1962 confrontation in Manchester where Union Movement supporters faced mass opposition, reinforcing a pattern of de facto restrictions on the group's street activities. These measures, while framed as preserving public order, effectively curtailed the Movement's ability to engage in open-air propaganda, contributing to its marginalization.^[52]

Decline and End

Internal Factors and Membership Decline

The Union Movement's ideological framework, centered on Mosley's "Europe a Nation" concept—which envisioned a federated European superpower to counter global threats—created significant internal friction. This pan-European emphasis diverged from the more parochial nationalist sentiments prevalent among post-war far-right activists, who prioritized domestic concerns like immigration control and imperial preservation over supranational unity. Such misalignment hampered recruitment and fostered discontent, as members viewed the policy as detached from immediate British realities, leading to reduced enthusiasm and voluntary attrition.^[11] Mosley's autocratic leadership style exacerbated these issues, as his insistence on doctrinal purity suppressed debate and local initiative within the amalgamated factions forming the party. Having united over 50 disparate far-right remnants from the pre-war era, the movement struggled with unresolved factional rivalries over tactics, from electoral participation to street activism, without mechanisms for internal reconciliation. This centralization discouraged innovation and alienated younger or more pragmatic elements seeking adaptable strategies, resulting in stagnant organization and failure to build a sustainable cadre.^[53] By the early 1950s, these dynamics manifested in membership erosion, with active participation dwindling amid poor by-election showings that underscored strategic shortcomings. The lack of robust internal structures for training, funding, or succession planning further eroded morale, as the party remained overly dependent on Mosley's personal charisma rather than collective momentum, accelerating the slide toward marginality.^[10]

Mosley's Withdrawal and Party Dissolution

In the March 1966 general election, Oswald Mosley stood as the Union Movement candidate in the Shoreditch and Finsbury constituency, securing 1,127 votes, equivalent to 4.6% of the total cast.^[54] This marked his final attempt at electoral politics, yielding no parliamentary seat and reflecting the organization's marginal support amid widespread public opposition to Mosley's fascist associations. Following the defeat, Mosley withdrew from active leadership of the Union Movement, citing health concerns and the futility of further campaigning in a hostile political climate; he relocated primarily to France, focusing instead on intellectual pursuits.^[8]^[7] Mosley's departure deprived the Union Movement of its central figure and primary ideological driver, accelerating an already steep decline in membership and public engagement that had persisted since the late 1940s.^[10] Without his personal involvement, the party struggled to attract recruits or funding, its emphasis on pan-European nationalism and anti-immigration policies failing to resonate beyond a small cadre of dedicated activists. Leadership transitioned to longtime associate Jeffrey Hamm, who assumed de facto control and sustained minimal operations through the publication of the party's newspaper Action and sporadic public meetings in areas like London's East End.^[55] The Union Movement persisted in this diminished form for decades, avoiding formal dissolution until after Hamm's death, when the remaining structure disbanded in 1994 due to lack of viable successors and organizational resources.^[55] This prolonged but inconsequential afterlife underscored the party's inability to adapt post-Mosley, as internal factionalism and external stigma from its pre-war fascist roots prevented any revival or merger into broader nationalist groups. By the 1970s, its active membership had dwindled to dozens, with influence confined to fringe publications rather than electoral or street-level activity.^[10]^[56]

Legacy and Historical Assessment

Influence on Subsequent Nationalist Movements

The Union Movement's direct organizational influence on later British nationalist groups was limited, as its membership dwindled to fewer than 1,000 by the mid-1950s amid public repudiation of Mosley's wartime associations and internal disarray.^[13] Mosley's attempt to revive fascist momentum through the UM failed to attract broad support, with ex-BUF veterans largely shifting to smaller, fragmented outfits like the Imperial Fascist League remnants or the British League of Ex-Servicemen, which prioritized anti-Semitic agitation over structured politics.^[11] Subsequent movements, such as the National Front (NF) founded in 1967, explicitly distanced themselves from Mosleyite leadership, with NF founder John Tyndall recalling immediate hostility toward the UM's "Europe-a-Nation" pan-European federalism, which clashed with the NF's emphasis on sovereign British nationalism and Commonwealth preservation.^[57] Ideologically, the UM contributed to early postwar framing of immigration as a threat to national cohesion, campaigning against unrestricted entry from the British Commonwealth as early as 1948—predating Enoch Powell's 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech by two decades.^[28] This stance echoed in the NF's and British National Party's (BNP, founded 1982) platforms, which amplified repatriation demands amid rising non-white migration, though without crediting Mosley directly due to his reputational toxicity.^[53] The UM's advocacy for economic corporatism and opposition to both liberal capitalism and communism also resonated peripherally in BNP rhetoric under Nick Griffin, who occasionally invoked Mosley as a historical antecedent for anti-globalist nationalism, despite the party's roots in NF splintering and Tyndall's earlier Spearhead group rejecting overt fascism.^[58] However, the UM's legacy was overshadowed by state suppression and vigilante opposition, including the Jewish 43 Group's street confrontations that disrupted UM rallies in the late 1940s, reinforcing perceptions of Mosleyites as fringe extremists unfit for mainstream nationalism.^[59] Later groups like the BNP achieved marginal electoral gains—peaking at 12 council seats in 2003—but attributed success to localized anti-immigration populism rather than UM-style authoritarianism, highlighting how Mosley's model was adapted selectively while his personal brand deterred alliances.^[60] Academic assessments note that while the UM pioneered explicit racial framing in postwar extremism, its structural failures—culminating in Mosley's 1948 withdrawal from active politics—left nationalist evolution to more decentralized, Powell-inspired currents.^[11]

Evaluations of Achievements and Failures

The Union Movement, founded by Oswald Mosley in 1948, is widely evaluated by historians as a political failure in achieving mainstream viability or electoral success in Britain from 1948 to 1966, primarily due to its inability to overcome the stigma of Mosley's pre-war fascist associations and postwar public antipathy toward extremism.^[61] Despite efforts to rebrand with policies like "Europe a Nation"—envisioning a confederated European superpower excluding Soviet influence and the United States—the party garnered negligible vote shares in contested elections, such as Mosley's 1959 candidacy in North Kensington, where it failed to secure significant support amid widespread opposition.^[13]^[62] This marginal performance stemmed from a sustained publicity blackout by mainstream media, effective mobilization by anti-fascist groups, and the broader causal reality of Britain's postwar consensus favoring liberal democracy over authoritarian nationalism, rendering the UM's corporatist economics and racial policies unpalatable to voters.^[10] Limited achievements are noted in the UM's early articulation of opposition to non-European immigration, which aligned with rising public concerns over West Indian inflows starting in the late 1940s and gained modest traction in graffiti campaigns and local agitation, though this did not translate into organizational growth or policy influence.^[63] Mosley's advocacy for European integration as a bulwark against both American hegemony and Soviet expansion prefigured some elements of later Eurosceptic nationalism, but these ideas exerted no demonstrable causal impact on British foreign policy or subsequent parties during the UM's existence, as evidenced by the party's dissolution in 1973 without legislative victories or enduring institutional legacy.^[2] Academic assessments, drawing on archival records, attribute the UM's shortfall to structural barriers like state internment legacies and societal rejection of interwar fascism, rather than inherent flaws in its platform, underscoring a failure to adapt to democratic electoral dynamics.^[64]

References

[1]
Oswald Mosley - Spartacus Educational
As Robert Skidelsky has pointed out: "After the war Mosley started a Union Movement dedicated to creating a united Europe. But the idea had little resonance ...
[2]
Oswald Mosley: Briton, Fascist, European
While others looked no further than the Council of Europe (little more than a debating club), Mosley launched the Union Movement early in 1948, to be ...Missing: principles | Show results with:principles
[3]
Union Movement – OswaldMosley.com
That Europe a Nation shall forthwith be made a fact. This means that Europe shall have a common government for purposes of foreign policy, defence, ...
[4]
Europe: Faith and Plan by Oswald Mosley | Goodreads
Rating 3.7 (12) Oswald Mosley was the first post-War figure to propose the political union of Europe. As far back as 1947 he had advocated 'Europe a Nation'.
[5]
Britain's post-war fascist pro-Europeans - The New World
Nov 4, 2021 · Mosley's “Europe a nation” policy alienated many on the UK's extreme ... Mosley's Union Movement was less of a street-based militant ...
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Oswald Mosley | Biography, Books, & Facts | Britannica
On February 7, 1948, he launched the Union Movement, which he described as an amalgam of 51 organizations, most of them right-wing book clubs. Oswald MosleySir ...
[7]
Your guide to Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists (BUF)
Feb 23, 2022 · Mosley attempted to return to politics after the war – he set up a new far-right organisation called the Union Movement in 1948, focusing on ...
[8]
Who was Sir Oswald Mosley? - BBC
Aug 25, 2019 · After the war, he attempted to revive his party - soon renamed the Union Movement - with little success, and he left the country in 1951.
[9]
The Alternative - Oswald Mosley - Google Books
The Alternative. Author, Oswald Mosley. Publisher, Mosley Publications, 1947. Original from, the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Digitized, Sep 9, 2009.
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The Failed Political Resurrection of Sir Oswald Mosley after 1945
' John Hope has argued that the Union Movement acted as a transmission belt between pre- and postwar British fascism. He ...Missing: founding | Show results with:founding<|separator|>
[11]
The Postwar British Extreme Right and Empire, 1945–1967
May 6, 2015 · The Union Movement sought to break with Britain's imperial past whilst simultaneously promoting a new imperial vision which wanted to see ...
[12]
(PDF) Oswald Mosley´s Concept of a United Europe. A Contribution ...
Mosley's 'Europe-A-Nation' concept aimed for complete integration of European nations into a superstate. The Union Movement peaked in the early 1960s with only ...
[13]
The Postwar Revival of British Fascism - New Lines Magazine
May 31, 2024 · In November 1947, Mosley launched the Union Movement party in an attempt to turn the anti-Jewish sentiment Hamm had been able to mine into ...Missing: reorientation | Show results with:reorientation
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Graham Macklin: "'Europe-a-Nation' – The geo-political ideas of Sir ...
Mar 12, 2015 · This presentation gave an overview of the post-war political philosophy of Sir Oswald Mosley who had led the British Union of Fascists during ...Missing: writings | Show results with:writings
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Sir Oswald Mosley | 2 | From 'Britain First' to 'Europe-a-Nation' | Gr
... Europe-a-Nation', which he outlined in his post-war book, The ... The chapter pays particular attention to the role Mosley and his post-war Union Movement ...
[16]
The Alternative - Oswald Mosley - Google Books
Mar 25, 2019 · Mosley's vision of a United Europe stretching from the Urals to the Atlantic, had little in common with the present European Union, essentially, ...
[17]
The Alternative – OswaldMosley.com
In stockIn The Alternative Mosley warns of the “barbarians of the Modern Age” named – Mob and Money, both of which meant the destruction of European values and ...
[18]
Policy for Europe – OswaldMosley.com
In short, do we face the Union of Europe in the spirit of the Labour Party, or in the spirit of Union Movement? ... Europe a Nation.” The present purpose is only ...
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British Union Collection | Discover Our Archives
From 1945 to 1947 Mosley passed his time in farming in Wiltshire, but in February 1948, following the publication of his book The Alternative, he relaunched ...<|separator|>
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MOSLEY ANNOUNCES NEW ORGANIZATION - The New York Times
He told a meeting here that fifty-one organizations would be merged in the Union movement. These include thirty-six “book clubs.” Sir Oswald, whose pre-war ...
[21]
https://www.britishonlinearchives.com/collections/121/the-british-union-of-fascists-1933-1953
[22]
Purifying the Nation: Critiques of Cultural Decadence and Decline in ...
through a loose network of 'Book Clubs' during 1946. The Book Clubs held discussion meetings where literary, cultural and philosophical questions were.
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[PDF] The Attempted Revival Of British Fascism
It analyses the British League of Ex-Servicemen and Women and the Mosley book clubs, which came together to form the Union Movement. The chapter ends in 1951 ...
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[PDF] 43 Group - Jewish Renaissance
Mosley had radicalised sympathisers by running 'book clubs' where like-minded individuals would meet. Now he launched the Union Movement, amalgamating over.
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The Corporate State - Oswald Mosley
The main object of a modern and Fascist movement is to establish the Corporate State. In our belief, it is the greatest constructive conception yet devised ...
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Oswald Mosley, the British Union of Fascists and Generic Fascism
51 Stephen Dorril, Blackshirt: Sir Oswald ... damage inflicted publicly on Mosley and the BUF through their association with foreign fascist movements.
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Usury the Primary Issue – OswaldMosley.com
'Usury' by its strictest definition is any interest charged on a loan. It is regarded as a sin by Islam and by Catholicism, and Judaism prohibits usury charged ...
[28]
The British Union of Fascists: 1933–1953
Jun 23, 2025 · Unperturbed by Nazi Germany's defeat, in 1948, Mosley founded the Union Movement (UM), the successor organization to the BUF. The UM was one of ...
[29]
Mosley's Policies – An Outline - OswaldMosley.com
Europe a Nation. Power Over Finance. The Idea of 'Europe'. Home · British Fascism (1932 – 1940) · United Europe (1948 – ) · Mosley's Policies · Articles ...
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'Science must be the Basis'. Sir Oswald Mosley's Political Parties ...
This article investigates the health and science policies of the New Party, British Union of Fascists (BUF) and Union Movement, founded by Sir Oswald Mosley.Missing: organizations | Show results with:organizations
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Union Movement leaflets, [1950s - 1960s] | Discover Our Archives
Leaflets relating to the Union Movement. Dates. Creation: [1950s - 1960s]. Creator. From the Collection: British Union of Fascists ( ...
[32]
British Union of Fascists (BUF) | Ideology, Oswald Mosley, Policies ...
Sep 26, 2025 · British Union of Fascists was a British right-wing political party founded in 1932 by would-be dictator Oswald Mosley, who espoused virulent ...
[33]
When Jewish WWII vets pulverized postwar UK fascists to tamp ...
named as a nod to his belief in a united Europe — was harassed by the 43 Group at every turn. They left his ...Missing: reorientation | Show results with:reorientation
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Union Movement | British political organization | Britannica
The Union Movement, from 1948 until his death. Those groups were known for distributing anti-Semitic propaganda, conducting hostile demonstrations.Missing: 1970s | Show results with:1970s
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The Not So Silent Revolution Postwar Migration to Western Europe
Aug 6, 2025 · PDF | In the 1990s scholars working within the subfield of immigration studies in Western Europe have advanced four major arguments.
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The Communist Party and Mosley's Union Movement, 1947-51
Jun 5, 2015 · [4] From 1945 and 1951, Mosley's Union Movement, alongside other fascist organisations and agitators, revived a campaign of violence and ...Missing: organizations | Show results with:organizations
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Mapping the Notting Hill Riots: Racism and the Streets of Post-war ...
Apr 15, 2022 · On more than one occasion members of the Union Movement vowed that Mosley alone could clear the rubbish piled up in the streets of Notting ...Missing: unrest strikes
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When Britain's Trade Unions Fought Fascism - Tribune
a lesson today's workers' movement ...
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Andy Beckett · Nine White Men Armed with Iron Bars
Nov 2, 2017 · Wills includes an eyewitness account of a Mosley pavement speech, which used the anti-immigrant argument, variations of which have remained ...Missing: policy | Show results with:policy
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MOSLEY TO SEEK SEAT IN COMMONS; British Fascist to Contest ...
Sir Oswald Mosley to run for Parliament; campaign will be 1st for his party, 1st for Mosley since his '31 defeat.
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CONSERVATIVES VICTORS, EXPECT MAJORITY OF 110; BRITISH ...
Sir Oswald Mosley, Britain's Fascist leader of pre-war years, was trounced in North Kensington so badly that he forfeited his deposit. Ian Mikardo, vice ...
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Oswald Ernald Mosley Part II - The Orwell Society
Oct 5, 2024 · In 1961 Mosley published his 300 Questions Answered. At the 1966 General Election he stood at Shoreditch and Finsbury in London. He got 1,126 ...
[43]
UoB Calmview5: Search results - University of Birmingham
... elections and by-elections by the Union Movement, including Oswald Mosley's candidature for North Kensington in the election of 1959. The file includes ...
[44]
Women in the British Union of Fascists - History Workshop
Feb 18, 2025 · In 1932 the former Labour Minister, Oswald Mosley, formed the British Union of Fascists. The organisation enjoys a rapid growth, reaching ...Missing: initial | Show results with:initial
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[PDF] London County Council Elections
For example, we could report that a total of 49,646 candidates stood for election to the London borough councils between 1900-1962, while 5,830 contested the ...
[46]
https://www.electionscentre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Twentieth-Century-Local-Election-Results-Volume-1.pdf
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MOSLEY TO PRESS ANTI-SEMITIC VIEW; British Pre-War Fascist ...
At such times, he said, the public looks about for a new plan to replace the existing regime. He said that his "Union Movement" would find a universal appeal.
[48]
MOSLEY DISAVOWS ANTI-SEMITIC VIEW, - The New York Times
... Union Movement was anti-Semitic. At the same time he attributed the present wave of anti-Semitism “in most countries” to “the insensate way with which many ...
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‎⁨Mosley Followers in England Become More Anti-Semitic⁩ — ⁨⁨J ...
... Union Movement of Sir Oswald Mosley is moving steadily toward increased bitterness against all Jews. Although Mosley has recently disavowed anti-Semitism ...
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Heckling Mosley - The Wiener Holocaust Library
Aug 11, 2022 · In the General Election of 1966, Oswald Mosley represented his fascist party, the Union Movement, in the constituency of Shoreditch and Finsbury.
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RIOTING BRINGS BAN ON LONDON RALLIES; Political Parades ...
Ede made it clear that in this case he blamed the Communists, not the members of Sir Oswald's Union Movement, who were holding a lawful meeting and parade and ...
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Mosleyite Parade Banned by British Government Following ...
The scheduled parade today of Sir Oswald Mosley and other members of his fascist Union Movement through the East End of London has been prohibited under ...Missing: UK | Show results with:UK
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The rise and decline of the National Front | Workers' Liberty
Jul 23, 2022 · Mosley demanded protectionism and state funding to deal with unemployment. His policies were rejected – the orthodox economics at the time ...
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Ferdinand Mount · Double-Barrelled Dolts: Mosley's Lost Deposit
Jul 6, 2006 · In his last contest, at Shoreditch in the 1966 general election, Mosley himself secured only 1127 votes (4.6 per cent). All seven nationalist ...
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XMS124 - Papers of Edward Jeffrey Hamm - 1958-1990 - CalmView
In 1949, Jeffrey Hamm became the local Union Movement officer for ... The Union Movement finally dissolved in 1994, following the death of Jeffrey Hamm.
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Jeffrey Hamm - European Action
Jeffrey Hamm acted as Mosley's ADC and following the leader's death in 1980 he continued to publish the Union Movement newspaper "Action" and maintain Action ...
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Front': John Tyndall and the Origins of the British National Party
The postwar political resurrection of Mosley and his Union Movement had already been thwarted by 1950 and what is more, as Tyndall recalled, he was 'immediately ...
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History shows that BNP will follow Mosley's Fascists down the drain
Oct 23, 2009 · Mr Griffin's sense of history is somewhat confused, since he claims political descent from both Oswald Mosley and Winston Churchill: the most ...
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The British Jews who fought postwar fascism on London's streets
May 24, 2020 · “They tried to close it down. The establishment did not want anything that could bring Jews into disrepute or encourage more antisemitism. They ...Missing: Movement | Show results with:Movement
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The British National Party in the 2002 and 2003 local elections
This paper investigates the contextual determinants of support for the British National Party (BNP) in the 2002 and 2003 local elections in England.
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Oswald Mosley and the Union Movement: Success or Failure?
The inquiry we must make is why did the Union Movement (UM) fail to achieve success in Great Britain as a mass political party in the period 1948–66?
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The Politics of Race and the Future of British Political History
May 18, 2023 · For example, Oswald Mosley, representing his Union Movement (UM), stood as a candidate in North Kensington for the 1959 election. He lost badly ...Missing: preservation | Show results with:preservation
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Mosley, Oswald Ernald, 1896 - 1980 - Discover Our Archives
As immigration from the West Indies began to rise substantially Mosley declared the Union Movement against such immigration, and though this policy gained some ...
[64]
4 Oswald Mosley and the Union Movement: Success or Failure?
The British Union of Fascists and National Socialists (BUF) was closed down by the government in July 1940 and it was never to emerge under this title again.Missing: achievements | Show results with:achievements